This series of stories will be titled 'I'm surprised I turned out as well as I did, given my childhood ...' 57

My best friend at school, Sara was absolutely THE coolest person I knew. She had moved to our school in our third year (around 13 or 14 years old).

We were inseparable. As soon as I got home from school, I was on the phone with her, chattering away like we hadn’t spent all day together.

We arranged to go to the club for the CB Radio meet on the Tuesday. I told Scooby-doo I didn’t want to see him that night and off I went. Sometimes, I got a lift with my parents, but not always; I was 16 and fit and healthy, so I walked a lot.

Sara liked a boy a few years older than us. He lived down the street from her and he’d got a girlfriend. If the girlfriend ever found out that Sara liked him, there would be problems – and Sara didn’t fight.

This guy, Mick, had a motorcycle and therefore had at least one mark in his favour – she did like the ‘Bad boys’.

Everything became really complicated, really fast!

Sara liked Mick, Mick was best friends with my friend’s boyfriend (remember, the sisters?) and because my friend had split from him, he hung around with Mick a lot.

Up to speed? No? Well, hopefully it’ll all become clearer in a sec.

Sara had arranged for me to meet her at the club, BUT what I didn’t know was that she had decided that my current boyfriend, Scooby-doo, wasn’t good enough or suitable for me. Basically, it would be way better if I went out with a biker… and, as luck would have it, Mick’s best friend was a biker suddenly available and therefore, we’d be able to double-date.

My other friend (the sisters) had recently ended the relationship with her boyfriend and I thought the reason he no longer talked to me at the Space Invaders machine was because of that.

The previous week, I’d said “Hi,” to him, but I got nothing… I figured he hadn’t heard and then found out they’d split, so that made sense.

What’s not to like?

Add to that complex mix, the fact that Mick’s friend, (my friend’s ex) had taken a shine to me and told Mick.

Cupid to the rescue… he told Sara and they decided to set it all up – hence me being at the club that night.

Got it? Good!

So, Sara met me there and dragged me over to the table where her boyfriend and his friend were sitting.

She placed me strategically next to Mick – What? Why?

She sat next to me, with the friend (my friend’s ex) on her other side.

Then Mick started talking to me – which seemed a little odd, why wasn’t he talking to Sara? And why was she sitting back, letting me talk to him? She had precious little time to spend with him and I knew she snuck as much time as she could with him. It just didn’t make sense.

Mick leaned forward.

“Trev likes you,” he said.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, will you go out with him?”

“No.”

“Why? He likes you!”

Well in that case… that’s all it takes, of course…

“No. I have a boyfriend.”

“So?”

“So, I don’t do that,” I said, glaring pointedly at Mick.

“He doesn’t mind!”

“But I do.”

Then the guys went into a little discussion. I glanced at Sara, wondering why she’d set me up like that… She shrugged.

The guys were obviously talking about me and I thought it was rude. I leaned across the table and caught hold of Trev’s hair, one piece from either side of his head and I held it tight under his chin, holding his head still and up so he had to look at my face.

“Are you talking about me?” I asked.

All he could do was nod slightly.

“Well don’t.”

“OK,” he said.

I left the table to go collect the glasses (that was probably an excuse, I wasn’t used to being the centre of attention).

As I left, he said, “When you finish with him, will you think about going out with me?”

Well, at least I understood why he’d stopped talking to me at the Space Invaders machine… it was because he’d decided he liked me and of course, when you like someone, despite having previous conversations under your belt, it was the law that you can’t talk to someone you fancy.

Who makes these rules up and why is being a teenager so DIFFICULT?

Well, the next day at school, I was in turmoil. No boyfriend for what seemed like an AGE and then, once I have a boyfriend, one of the baddest of the bad boys also liked me? How does it happen like that?

Well, unfortunately, Trev was in demand as boyfriend material and one of the popular girls in our year also liked him.

Suddenly, I went from being on the fringes of a number of groups, to being ostracised by at least one.

What the hell had I done?

Always a bit of a loner, with only a few close friends, but plenty of people I could chat to, if not hang round with (BFFs), I wasn’t too concerned. The girl that also liked Trev was lovely and though she also liked him, I didn’t think she’d start a fight over him.

I do remember one girl took it upon herself to ‘have a word’ with me on her behalf.

“What are you doing? You know she likes Trev.”

“I’ve got a boyfriend. I told Trev I wouldn’t go out with him.”

“Yeah? Why should I believe you?”

Yep… being a teenager is HARD!

To be continued…